


Marks

by KindnessGraceless



Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 11:24:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20795873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KindnessGraceless/pseuds/KindnessGraceless
Summary: “Little Moth, are you going to tell me what you’re doing all wrapped up in those covers, hm?”“No! Go away, Baba!”“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Meli Belly.”“Why not!”“Because it’s the law.”“No it’s not!”“Yes it is, there’s a law that says Babas can’t leave their babies alone when they’ve decided to cocoon themselves.”“Who made that?!”“I did.”“BABA!” said an exasperated groan, “That’s not fair!”“I’m a king, I don’t have to be fair.”He got a big, muffled ‘hmph’ for that comment.--Hades has a talk with his daughter.Future! Kidfic





	Marks

**Author's Note:**

> Ah!! This is the first time I've ever posted on here! I was moved by my will to see more Dad!Hades content, and y'know what they say. Be the change you want to see in the world, and all that. I hope you enjoy!

Hades was tired.

As he parked his car in the garage of his home, he pulled the key out of the ignition before leaning back into his seat with a sigh. Today was a good day of work, he knew that, and he knew he should be proud of it. 

They finally settled the matter of Tantalus after much begrudging back and forth between him and his board of judges, moaning and groaning about whether or not his demigod status exempted him from his crimes. Hades had finally settled the matter by stating that no, Tantalus would not be simply forgiven because his baby brother’s blood ran through his veins. After that, things were settled quite quickly.

The state of affairs at home however…

Hades pulled out his phone, opening up to his messages with Persephone, his wife of many happy years. It was most just quickly swapped “I love you”s and planning and scheduling events, all except the latest one. His stomach turned while reading it again, just like it did the first time.

_ Timestamp: 3:34 pm _

_ Melinoë came home upset today. :( she doesn’t want to talk about it and even turned down snack to stay in her room. When you get home, can you please talk to her if it isn’t too late? Love you. _

Looking at his watch, he saw that it was only a little after six thirty so everyone should still be awake… Which meant he would have to talk to his daughter about whatever was troubling her, which could just lead to a fit and a demand for him to leave her room…

Hades was tired.

He got out of the car finally, locking it behind him as he entered through the garage door. The aroma of fresh flowers and something baking greeted him, leaving him with a resounding sense of _ warmth _ that he thought he would never have in a million eons. 

“I’m home!” he called out, finally coming into the kitchen only to be treated to a sight for sore eyes. 

Persephone, in what looked like to be the nightgown he left her today with, had an apron tied around her torso with their littlest lavender hued child propped up on her hip as she moved around the kitchen. Persephone was furiously muttering over a recipe, only absentmindedly trying to fight off the little fist that was trying to make her mother’s pixie cut her newest toy.

“Macaria, tell me why your Mama can’t remember the damn reci--Oh hi!” Persephone perked up with the arrival of her husband, that beautiful smile of hers replacing the frustrated grimace she wore before. Hades loved being the cause of that smile “You’re home earlier than I expected you to be, seeing with all the bullsh--_ Nonsense_, with Tantalus.”

Hades let out a laugh, but it was more so one out of relief than actual joy. Persephone had refused to come to any more discussions of the matter, tired of being talked down to by Minos any longer, she claimed. Hades had thoroughly reprimanded the once-king-now-judge for his behavior but Persephone still refused, leading to her staying home that day instead resuming her queenly duties. 

“Well, fear not. You may come back to work Monday seeing that the issue has been fully resolved. Tantalus will spend eternity in Tartarus, the Furies are designing his fate as we speak,” Hades reassured his wife, offering his little daughter his finger as a substitute for her mother’s hair. While he returned Macaria’s gummy smile with his own, he heard Persephone let out a sigh, shaking her head. 

“Good riddance. I still don’t understand why it took them so long to figure that out,” she said with only slight grumpiness, nothing compared to her mood yesterday after she had lost her temper at Minos.

“I’m afraid that people simply lack your vision, Sweetness,” he said with a sigh, finally taking the baby from Persephone, bouncing her in the crook of his arm to allow his wife full reign of her hands. He sniffed the air, recognizing the sweet smell.

“Are you making baklava?” he asked with a raised brow.

Persephone twisted the string of her apron, slightly biting her lip.

“Meli requested it.”

Hades grimaced.

“Oh _ no_ , it’s _ baklava _ bad?”

“It’s baklava bad.”

Both of them knew that their eldest daughter never really had a sweet tooth, much less request her favorite dessert out of blue, unless she was _ really _ upset. Hades felt a sinking feeling form in his gut, heavy and hard with a concern he had only felt in recent years with the new experiences of parenthood. He adjusted Macaria in his arms, allowing his daughter to rest her face on her shoulder, desensitized to the drool and mess of it.

“And you have no clue as to wh--” Hades’ inquiry was interrupted by something, no, _ someone _ running into his legs at full force. Though with how small that person was, it hardly knocked him off balance, but still. 

“Zagreus!” Hades scolded at the pink boy who hugged his thigh, brow knitted in concern laced with anger. “What have I said about doing that while I’m holding your sister?”

The pink five year old turned sheepish, the bandaids littering his body evidence that this reckless nature was innate to him. He was a wanderer, his mother said. He was a _ boy _, his grandmother grimaced. Hades saw his own eyes in his boy as they peered at him, red as rubies as he tried to come up with an excuse, scrunching up his freckled face in thought.

“Uhm...Don’t...Do that?”

“Yes, Zagreus. That’s what I said. And what did I say about what to do when you do that?” Hades continued. Persephone scoffed.

“Hades, stop scaring him half to death. Baby, say you’re sorry and go run along,” Persephone said with a wave of her hand, more preoccupied with her baking duties than dealing with her son’s rambunctiousness. Zagreus perked up, knowing that Mama _ always _won over Baba, a grin forming on his face.

“Sorry!” Zagreus replied, not much thought into the word, but instead of taking off like Hades expected him to, he instead stayed planted in front of his father, fidgeting with his hands. Hades almost asked him what was wrong, but the boy spoke before he could.

“Hey, Baba… Is Meli okay?” 

The boy asked in a softer voice than Hades thought was possible from a child his age, staring down at his feet. Hades felt his heart get pulled and twisted in a vice. He held Macaria a little bit closer.

“It’s just that… After recess, Meli got mean and sad and I’m just…worried about her.” 

Hades swallowed.

“Well, what about I go put down Mac on her mat and I’ll go talk to her about it, hm? In the meantime… Why don’t you go and help Mama with the baking?” 

Hades finished, giving a sly smile to Persephone, only to be greeted with her tongue poking out at him. It was no secret that Zag was by far the most unruly of their children, but Persephone had a way with him that Hades didn’t. And Zagreus was also a gigantic Mama’s boy. One has to wonder where he got that from.

After situating his two other children, it was finally time for Hades to tackle the lady of the evening, ascending up the staircase to where her and Zag’s bedrooms where. He had just turned into the hallway when he saw Cerberus curled up outside her door, ears down in an expression Hades could only recognize as what would be a concerned dog. The hound stood up at Hades approached, putting a soft smile on his owner’s face.

“Worried about her? Yeah, me too.” He muttered, giving the dog a good pet between the ears before sending him off. Hades stood before the baby blue door he remembered painting those few, quick years ago, and took a deep breath. 

He knocked.

“Meli?”

“Baba, go away!” A little, muffled voice cried out from behind the door.

“Melinoë.” He retorted, voice a little more stern.

“I said go away!” The voice whined once more.

Well, he did give her two chances.

Hades opened the door, peeking his head in. All the lights were turned off, leaving the room as dark as it could get, but there was still a visible mound on the tiny twin sized bed that was his daughter’s. Well, that explained why the voice was so muffled. Sighing, Hades shut the door behind him, taking off his suit jacket off and placing it on the door handle before he rolled up his sleeves. 

Creeping gently, Hades made his way to the bed, all the way to her bedside before he was faced with the challenge of contorting himself into a small enough shape to fit in the bed. The final result was not something he was proud off, his feet hanging off the end of bed quite liberally, his body curled around the mound of blankets his daughter had cocooned herself in. He propped his left elbow on her pillow, holding his head in hand. 

“Little Moth…” He called in a sing song voice, using a nickname that had been around before Melinoë could speak.

No response.

“Little Moth…!” He said again, pulling the mound tight to him with his right arm, causing a sound of protest from under the blankets but no actual move to get away. 

“Little Moth, are you going to tell me what you’re doing all wrapped up in those covers, hm?” 

“No! Go away, Baba!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Meli Belly.”

“Why not!”

“Because it’s the law.”

“No it’s not!”

“Yes it is, there’s a law that says Babas can’t leave their babies alone when they’ve decided to cocoon themselves.”

“Who made that?!”

“I did.”

“BABA!” said an exasperated groan, “That’s not fair!”

“I’m a king, I don’t have to be fair.”

He got a big, muffled _ ‘hmph’ _for that comment.

“...Would you like to hear about my day? I made a big judgement today,” he offered, faux casually. He knew that Mel was interested in his royal duties, seeing that when he usually got home he would be asked question after question about what had happened that day, those big golden eyes huge in awe of him. He didn’t know how warm it would feel to be looked at like that. 

Lucky for him, his question prompted his daughter to reveal the top of her domino colored hair.

“...Maybe…”

“Okay, but you have to tell me about your day first.”

“No!”

“You have to.”

“Why?!”

“It’s once again the law.”

“But--”

“King AND Dad. Double whammy.”

Even through the covers, he could see his daughter deflate with defeat. 

“Now…are you going to come out of those covers and talk to me?” he asked, brow raised. There was a beat of silence before movement began, the mound of blankets slowly being kicked off, finally revealing its inhabitant.

Hades would be greeted with the sight of his light blue five year old, covered in her signature “moon spots,” as Persephone coined them. Large navy patches covered the expanse of her skin, her hair a mess of midnight blue bordering on black and white curls. Though, to be honest, Hades was much more concerned about the rings that surrounded her big golden eyes, that and her tear stains and runny nose betrayed that she had been crying for quite some time. 

Hades pulled her a little tighter to his chest.

“Baby, what’s wrong? Why did you come home crying?”

Again, another moment of hesitation. Melinoë seemed to snuggle in a little closer to his chest, as if she would just disappear into it.

“_ Baba…Do you think I’m ugly?_”

Hades could feel his lungs catch with that question. Before he could even process the weight of that, his heart reacted for him, breaking into what felt like a million little pieces. Suddenly his embrace became engulfing, both arms moving to pull her as tight to him as possible, her face now buried into his neck as he desperately tried to figure out how to answer that. 

“_Oh, sweet girl, absolutely_ _not,_” he reassured, desperate to put that fear, however unreasonable it was, at ease. How could she think that? _Who _told her that? He felt the anger rising in his veins, but held back, knowing that it would do nothing to help the situation. Gathering himself, he forced himself to ask the next question.

“Melinoë, who said _ that_?”

“The girls at school.”

Damn children and their cruelty.

“They said that--that my spots were _ gross _ and _ ugly _ and since they were everywhere, even on my _ face _ that I-- _ that I was gr--_” Melinoë cut herself off with a sob, crying into her father’s button up once more, clutching the fabric as much as her little fists would allow. 

Hades ached. He wanted to help this, make this better, someone punish anybody and everybody who made his daughter, _ his baby_, feel this way, but…he couldn’t. Not really. No matter what happened that hurt was now in her, and he can’t fix that. But he’ll try.

“Melinoë, you are _ beautiful_.”

“No, I’m not, Baba.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No! I have--I have _ gross _ marks, Baba!”

She said “_ marks_ .” Not moon spots. _ Marks._

With that Hades quickly sat up, brow furrowed as he held his daughter in his lap. He gently picked her up and moved her to the end of her bed, forcing them to look at each other. Crimson meeting gold. 

“Melinoë, I… I have marks.” 

He could see the confusion forming on her face, the spot over her left eye creasing as she obviously searched his body for these “marks” he claimed to have, her conspicuous curiosity a folly of her age.

“Baba, where are th--”

She cut herself off with a gasp, watching as Hades unbuttoned his shirt, revealing jagged, light blue streaks all over his chest and arms, crawling up his neck and curling around his biceps. Hades realized this must be the first time she’d really _ seen _ them in that she finally realized what they are. And to be fair, Hades usually put on a glamour to hide how bad they really are. 

Instinctively, Melinoë reached out a hand before yanking it away, bashful at the prospect of touching her Baba’s marks. Instead, she very slowly crawled across her bed (although it wasn’t that far of a distance) and into Hades’ lap, sitting on his legs as she finally touched the scars, following the lines with a gentle, chubby fingertip, dutifully tracing it across his body. Hades watched her with a smile.

“What do you think?”

“They’re like… Like constallations.”

“Constellations.” 

“That’s what I said, Baba.”

Hades snickered.

“Are they ugly?” he asked, and Melinoë looks up with him with such wide eyes, Hades thought that they would pop out of her head if they could. 

“No! Not at all!” she promised, patting against his sternum in that way young ones do, as if touch alone will make things better. Hades feels a deep, heavy but warm feeling grow in his heart, taking root there.

With one of his large, calloused hands, Hades gently held his daughter’s face, tilting it up towards him. Looking over her, Hades was overwhelmed with everything he saw. Persephone’s lips, his aquiline nose, his mother’s brow, and more are all found on this little girl’s face, all these traces of people he loved woven together in the beautiful tapestry of her features, creating something more important, a love more powerful than the ichor that ran through his veins.

Hades leaned down, and pressed a kiss to the crown of his daughter’s head.

“_Then never think that you are, Sweetness.”_

Hades stewed in the silence, holding his daughter close, treasuring the way she felt in his arms right now, knowing that there would come a day where he’d put her down and never pick her up again. But that day was far from now, and now? Now he could hold her all he wanted. Well, as long as _ she _wanted.

“Baba…”

“Yes, baby?”

“Did Mama make baklava?” 

Hades had to laugh at that, finally letting go of the moment.

“Yes she did, Meli.”

Melinoë gasped at that, apparently thinking that her request would go unheeded. Quickly untangling herself from Hades’ arms, the little princess hopped off the bed, making a break for the door. “WE HAVE TO GO BEFORE ZAG EATS IT ALL!” she called out behind herself, leaving Hades shirtless on her bed. Hades chuckled to himself as he heard footsteps rapidly thud downstairs, his wife and son’s voice indistinct but audible, a clamor forming in the kitchen.

As he pulled on his shirt, Hades couldn’t help but smile, getting up to make his daughter’s bed. He knows that things are not perfect, far from it actually. And he knew that this matter would probably arise again, seeing that he also spent too many nights agonizing over his “marks,” but… He hoped that his daughter learned sooner than him, that while her marks did not define her, they didn’t make her ugly either. They were just…a part of her. The same way everything else was, even if it was hard to remember it like that sometimes. But Hades _knew _she’d have something that he didn’t.

A hand to hold.

**Author's Note:**

> Just so you know, "Baba" is the Greek world for "Daddy", in that it is a term of endearment for fathers for children.  
I hope that you enjoyed this! Comments and kudos are always welcomed. <3


End file.
